65% taxes + loaded royal family = baller parks

Parks in Copenhagen are like Starbucks in America. There's one every two blocks and someone's always carrying a $6 coffee.

Legitimately every couple of blocks in Copenhagen hosts some kind of public space where people can rest, enjoy each other's company, drink, eat, smoke, play, and simply be. A park here can be anything from a Palace's grounds to a pleasant green space with some seating outside of an apartment complex. Wherever I go, it's not long before I run into a park. There are such a diverse array of public spaces here. My "field research" didn't even broach the extent there is a park for every person and every occasion. I'll explain each one I visited in no particular order. Ranking them would be impossible because they are each special in their own way. 

1. Kids Traffic Playground 

Copenhagen has many staffed playgrounds. Many have different themes like art, sports, or in this case, biking. We visited this park as a group and heard from the program director who had been working there for 36 years. He explained that the park is open to the public and children come there to practice cycling in conditions like ones they will face in the city when they start biking on their own. He insisted on calling the park a playground. He thinks using the term "playground" is important in order to instill the idea that biking is a fun and playful activity and mode of transport. The program has hundreds of free bikes to lend to kids who wish to use the playground they host free learning-to-ride workshops for children of different ages almost every day. Instead of building fake miniature buildings, the playground uses hedges to simulate the feeling of not being able to see around a corner. The manager mentioned that the hedges are the only expensive ongoing maintenance cost of the park. But once built and staffed, the park benefits the public in many ways, especially by instilling a love for bicycling at an early age.  

The playground is the cutest thing ever and we got to play on it. I took some videos and pictures (see below) 

2. The Kings Garden 

The Kings Garden is the grounds of the Rosenborg Palace. The Rosenborg Palace was built as a "summer home" in "the country" for Danish royalty. The place couldn't be more than a mile from the Christanborg Palace or the square of palaces near the harbor. The Palace was built in 1606 for King Christian the IV. Originally, the grounds were used to produce agriculture for the castle kitchens (like most royal grounds in any society), but over the years, as ag has become decentralized, the grounds have been converted into more of a classic English style garden with sweeping lawns and manicured trees. The grounds do also have a more wild flower section and a proper flower garden. (Not sure why I only took one picture and it was of the Palace not the park.)

3. Fredericksberg Park

The park is actually the elaborate grounds of Frederiks Palace. The grounds were landscaped in a baroque style by King Frederik IV from 1699-1730. While some of the origional landscaping remains, some of the garden was transitions into a more romantic style by King Frederik VI from 1808-1839. The park is one of Copenhagen's largest green spaces an hosts many lakes, trails, canals, water features including a waterfall, and a chinese inspired summer house on and island in a lake. People can be seen sunbathing, picnicing, enjoying walks through the park. The park never seems to be crowded. A quiet corner can always be found due to the grounds massive size. (See pictures below)

4. Itty Bitty Mini Park (Unofficial name) 

Throughout Copenhagen, I always seem to run into all kinds of public spaces. In the states, we've started to call these spaces "parklets". I found this parklet unexpectedly while biking from Fredericksberg Park to another larger park. I imagine that space that was previously dedicated to car parking and car lanes was transitioned to this truly public space where people can be seen enjoying the sunshine during lunch, resting and observiing their surroundings, and passing through on foot or bike. The street on either side consits of a skinny car lane, a parking lane, and a 5 ft wide bikeway elevated above the car street level, but below the sidewalk level. I thought it was important to note just how many of these small but significant public spaces exist in the city becasue they can serve as a public place for people to gether right outside their homes. Something which doesn't exist in many single family housing neighborhoods in the states. How many public spaces exist in your neighborhood to relax, and enjoy being out and about around other poeple? (See pictures below)

5. Sonder Blvd. Park

Sonder Blvd. Park (I assume) is another example of turning a wide car travel boulevard into a quite neighborhood public resource. The park is in the middle of the long boulevard. It stretches from more than 1.5 km and is no wider than 30 m across in most places. The Park has something for everbody. A basketball court, small soccer pitch, ping pong tables, pavillions, a childrens playround, picnic tables, a skate park, and a plaza for events. Each aspect of the park was being used when I visited and neighbors had put the plaza to great use by hosting what looked like a neighborhood yard/clothing sale. (See pictures below).